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Stop pining for new Liberal chief: MP

Sandra O'Malley

One of Peter Costello's staunchest supporters, Christopher Pyne, has urged the Liberal Party to stop "hankering" after a new leader, warning it was only likely to damage the party.

The Liberals will gather at Parliament House on Wednesday night for a gala dinner to commemorate the former Howard government but at the moment the party has little to celebrate.

Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson continues to flounder in the opinion polls and his leadership is hamstrung by the former treasurer's refusal to specify whether he intends to leave the parliament or stay on.

There are continuing calls for Mr Costello to return to the frontbench and former Howard loyalist, Tony Abbott, has been particularly outspoken about his desire to see the member for Higgins return to frontline politics.

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"Plainly Peter Costello is a very superior political talent," he said at the weekend.

"I hope he doesn't leave the parliament and I hope he's available for higher duty."

And rumours are mounting that ambitious treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull could be laying the groundwork for a leadership challenge if Mr Costello decides to go.

Mr Pyne gave his full backing to Dr Nelson, suggesting the ongoing search for a leadership saviour was doing the Liberals more harm than good.

"I think that it's high time that the Liberal Party stopped wondering whether there might be other leadership aspirants in the hills around camp and simply support the commander of our forces, which is Brendan Nelson," he told reporters.

"My attitude is that he will lead us to the next election. He is the right man for the job and hankering after anyone else is unhelpful, unnecessary and unlikely to lead to a positive outcome."

Despite reports of growing discontent over Dr Nelson's leadership, the matter was not raised at Tuesday's Liberal Party room meeting.

Edith Cowan University Professor and John Howard biographer Peter van Onselen says the Liberals will remain in a state of enforced limbo until Mr Costello makes his intentions clear.

"He clearly will take over if he decides he is prepared to do it," he said.

But Prof van Onselen believes that Mr Costello may still be undecided about what to do, and believes that if he wants the Liberal leadership, he may prefer to take it over closer to the election.

"From what I can see he is not sure he can beat Rudd and that is why he is equivocating about it," he said.

After their own leadership troubles when in opposition, Labor is revelling in the Liberal strife.

Treasurer Wayne Swan used question time to taunt the Liberals that Dr Nelson, Mr Costello and Mr Turnbull were worrying how the high interest rate record of the Howard government would affect their leadership chances.

"Plan A over here, the leader of the opposition, is just worried about what it will mean for his leadership," he said.

"Plan B up the back, the member for Higgins, is worried how it will highlight his dreadful record when it comes to 10 interest rate rises in a row.

"Of course, we have Plan C, the member for Wentworth, who is smiling through gritted teeth ... (he) said interest rates were overdramatised."

Mr Howard and Dr Nelson will speak at Wednesday night's dinner but Mr Costello will be out of town.

Mr Turnbull later told ABC TV that continuing chatter about the Liberal leadership was unhelpful.

"I'm not going to engage in a commentary on the Liberal Party or my colleagues," he said.

"Brendan is our leader, he has my support, he has the support of the party room, but I'm not going to engage in commentary or speculation about the leadership ... I've decided it's not in the party's interest to be talking about our leadership."